Tribunal 1 was adjourned for the day as the judges considered the applications for retrial submitted by Defendants Sayedee, Nizami and Golam Azam. The court stated on January 1, 2013 that they would issue their order on the matter by January 3, 2013.
Category Archives: Tribunal 1
1 January 2013: Detailed Summary Golam Azam, Nizami, and Sayedee
Today the Defense Chief Counsel Abdur Razzaq submitted his response to the arguments of the Attorney General against the applications for retrial in the cases of Golam Azam, Nizami and Sayedee. After making these arguments Barrister Rafiqul Islam Miah made further submissions on behalf of Golam Azam.
Response to the Attorney General’s Submissions in the Cases of Golam Azam, Nizami, and Sayedee
The Skype and Email Communications between the former Chairman and Dr. Ziauddin are not Extraneous
Defense Counsel Abdur argued that the Attorney General was mistaken in arguing that the communications were an extraneous matter that should not be considered as these conversations go to the root of the matter and show that the trial has not been fair. While the AG argued that the formal charge rather than the Charge Framing Order is the crucial document, Razzaq stated that Ziauddin is also responsible for the formal charge. As shown by the Skype and email conversations he sent 7 drafts of the formal charge and the 7th draft was the one that was submitted by the prosecution. Therefore the formal charge is not valid under law and the entire trial process is vitiated.
Additionally, while the Prosecution replied to the application for retrial requesting that it be rejected, they never denied any of the allegations contained in the Defense’s application. None of the conversations via Skype or email have been contested as falsified and the Prosecution has not denied that the formal charge and the Charge Framing Orders were prepared by Dr. Ziauddin. The formal charge and Charge Framing Orders are an act of fraud committed against the tribunal.
Under §11(1)(d) and 11(6) of the ICT Act Dr. Ziauddin could only be appointed for administrative support, not for legal expertise
Regarding Ziauddin’s appointment under 11(1)(d) and 11(6) of the ICT Act 1973 Razzaq said that on December 6, former Chairman admitted that he occasionally talked with an international criminal law expert about international law; which indicates Ziauddin gave him judicial support not administrative support. He further argued that a lawyer cannot imagine or invent a fact.
31 December 2012: Detailed Summary of Retrial Arguments
4 Items were scheduled for hearing:
1.Chief Prosecutor vs Motiur Rahman Nizami – for hearing application and Prosecution Witness
2. Chief Prosecutor vs. Delawar Hossain Sayedee – for hearing application
3. Chief Prosecutor vs. Golam Azam – for further hearing of applications and arguments
[NOTE: It appears that as with many of the arguments made for and against retrial in the Sayedee and Golam Azam cases, the arguments made today in the Sayedee case are also applicable to the Golam Azam case]
4. Chief Prosecutor vs Salauddin Quader Chowdhury – for in-camera hearing of Prosecution Witness
Chief Prosecutor vs. Nizami
Submissions on Behalf of the Defense in the case of Nizami
Chief Defense Counsel Abdur Razaq requested permission to respond on the legal points of the application tomorrow.
Bar Council Vice Chairman Khandakar Mahbub Hossain placed his argument on behalf of Nizami.
30 December 2012: Detailed Summary for Sayedee and Nizami
The Tribunal heard arguments from the Defense regarding their application for retrial in the cases of Chief Prosecutor vs Delwar Hossain Sayedee and Chief Prosecutor vs. Motiur Rahman Nizami. After these arguments the court heard Attorney General Mahbubey Alam’s response to the three retrial applications (Sayedee, Golam Azam, and Nizami respectively).
Defense Submissions
Mizanul Islam, arguing on behalf of Sayedee, continued his arguments for retrial by pointing out specific instances of bias or collusion on the part of the former Chairman and the prosecution, as well as alleged incidents of violation of fair trial requirements. He later stated that he would not repeat his arguments in the case of Nizami, as they applied in the same way.
Charge Framing Order not written by Judges
He began by stating that it is usual practice for the charge framing order to be based on a charge hearing and alleged that the Tribunal did not follow this normal rule. He alleged that the draft copy of the Indictment order had come from Ahmed Ziauddin on October 10, 2011 and that the Tribunal passed a nearly identical order on October 3, 2011. He presented an e-mail dated October 02, 2011 alleging that Ziauddin sent it to former Chairman of Tribunal-1 Justice Nizamul Huq and Judge Zaheer Ahmed.
Trial Coverage Begins
The War Crimes Studies Center has been in the process of establishing a research and observation project covering the International Crimes Tribunal in Dhaka. Our goal is to provide factual and objective coverage of the ongoing trial proceedings. The tribunal currently does not have an official website or spokesperson, and current accurate information regarding the trials is difficult to access. We hope that this blog can fill this gap and provide useful information to the diplomatic community, academics, those working in the field of international criminal law, victims and other interested parties.
Over the past two months WCSC has worked to establish the logistical framework for our project. In order to introduce ourselves and explain our goals we have been meeting with court officials, the prosecution and defense teams, journalists and other civil society members as well as conducting legal research regarding both international and Bangladeshi legal practice. Additionally, we have hired a team of local Bangladeshi lawyers to conduct daily observation and translation of the proceedings.
Unfortunately we have faced a number of obstacles that have slowed our progress and delayed the launch of our daily reporting. The recruitment process for our local team was carried out cautiously and thoroughly as it is of the utmost importance that our team be able to neutrally assess the proceedings and accurately translate from Bangla into English. Additionally, our recruitment process has been prolonged by court requirements that our researchers go through an extensive background security check. This process took three weeks for one researcher and was still ongoing for another when the candidate decided that, due to concerns about prejudice to his future career, he could not continue to work with us. This meant that we had to again begin the recruitment process for a local Bangladeshi lawyer. We continue to work with the court and are now waiting for the approval of our second candidate. While we understand the the security concerns we regret the long duration of the background check and the intimidating impact that it potentially has on qualified candidates selected by our organization.
An additional factor in the delay of our publications has been our restricted access to official court documents. The tribunal has thus far declined to provide us with certified copies of court orders, including the charge framing orders (indictments). They have cited the ICT Act of 1973, stating that there is no specific provision in the act entitling 3rd parties to request and obtain certified copies of documents. We have been directed to obtain these documents instead from the Prosecution, Defense or from journalists. Despite our urging that our neutrality and objectivity is dependent on our access to official documents the court thus far has not been willing to rethink its position. Therefore, we have had to use additional time to obtain necessary documents and to verify their accuracy.
Despite these obstacles we have been attending proceedings and preparing materials for publication. We have now published overview charts of the cases in Tribunal I and Tribunal II that contain current and accurate information about the status of the trials and which will be updated on a daily basis. In the coming weeks we will be publishing brief summaries on each of the cases, timelines for each trial, as well as links to key documents in each of the trials. Additionally, we will begin publishing daily summaries of the proceedings in Tribunal 1 and Tribunal II. We hope that these materials will be useful to you and we look forward to feedback and questions that can help us make this website more effective.
Thank you for your patience.
The Bangladesh Trial Observer 